3 Easy Ways to Print Text Messages from Android

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Save your important texts and print them

Co-authored by Darlene Antonelli, MA Reviewed by Luigi Oppido

Last Updated: March 20, 2025 Fact Checked

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Printing Screenshots

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Using SMS Backup & Restore

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Using Google Messages on a Computer

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Tips

Do you need a printout of your texts from your Android smartphone? Luckily, there are a few ways that you can do this, ranging from taking screenshots to using a third-party app to print entire conversations. Read on to learn more about printing text messages from an Android phone.

Printing Text Conversations on Android

Quickly press the "Volume Down" and "Power" buttons to take a screenshot, then tap the "Capture More" icon until the whole conversation is captured. Using the screenshot notification panel, click the "Share" icon, then select the Print option.

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Printing Screenshots

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1
Open the text conversation you want to print. The easiest way to print text messages on your Android is to take screenshots of the conversation and print those. You can do this regardless of what SMS app you're using since all Android smartphones support capturing what's on the screen.
- This will be challenging if you have very long conversations that you need to screenshot; in that case, use the third-party app, SMS Backup & Restore.
This captures the screen, but you most likely want to capture more of the conversation.

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3
Press and hold the "Capture More" icon at the bottom of your screen. When you take a screenshot, a notification panel will pop up that confirms what's on the screen. The leftmost icon is the "Capture More" icon, which looks like double arrows inside a rectangle.
- Keep your finger on the button until you reach the bottom of the conversation or until you don't need to print what's on the screen.^{[1]
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It's in the notification panel pop-up, but if you miss it, you can find it again in the gallery app on your photo.
If you don't see it immediately, click More first.
6
Choose a printer and tap Print. Use the menu above Print to select options like the paper size, color, and orientation.
- You can paste your screenshots in a word-processing document like Google Docs or Word so you can easily print them at once. You can also resize the screenshots so more than one fits on a page.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Using SMS Backup & Restore

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1
Open SMS Backup & Restore. If you don't have this app already, it's free to download from the Google Play Store, and you won't have to pay to use the basic features needed to print text messages.
- Using SMS Backup & Restore is the best option if you have many conversations you want to print.
- To follow the steps here, make sure you're downloading the SMS Backup & Restore app offered by SyncTech Pty Ltd.
It's a green button in the middle of your screen.
3
Choose what to back up. Tap the toggle next to Call logs to deselect it. You only want to back up your text messages.
- Tap Advanced Options to select whether attachments and media are included in the backup and which conversations are backed up. This way, you can choose which text messages to print instead of all of them.
- Tap Next to continue.
4
Select where to store your messages. This is where the backup will be saved. You can choose a location like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, and your phone.
- Tap Next to continue.
- Sign into any cloud services if prompted.
Only do this if you want updated backups of your texts.
6
Tap Back Up Now. Wait a few moments as the app creates a backup file for your text conversations.
- The time it takes varies depending on how many conversations you selected to back up and how big the messages are (if they include a lot of attachments).
You'll see this under the "Backed up today" header.
8
Select your backup. Drag the menu to the left or right to find the location where you saved the backup; it'll appear under one of those tabs.
- Tapping it will open the backup.
The conversation will load, and you'll see sent and received text messages.
You'll see this vertical three-dot menu icon to the right of the conversation's header.
It's in the middle of the menu.
12
Select a printer and tap Print. Use the menu above the Print button to choose the paper size, orientation, and color. You'll see how the printed SMS conversation looks in the preview pane, including sent and received messages, the time stamp, and message content.
- Repeat the process to print multiple conversations.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Google Messages on a Computer

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1
Open Messages for the Web. In a web browser on your computer, go to that site and click Messages for Web to open another window.
- Use this method to print the messages from your Android using a computer, which might be easier. This also only works for text messages in the Google Messenger app.
This includes scanning a QR code with your phone or logging in with your Google account
This prints the screen. If you have a longer conversation, you'll need to do this multiple times.^{[2]
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Tips

If you're printing text messages for legal purposes, make sure that every message is time-stamped and that you have printed and PDF copies of your messages. You can easily print to PDF instead of picking a printer to save your files as PDF.

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